Leaders: Help save Ft. Campbell from cuts

Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan joined with state and county leaders Monday to urge citizens to sign letters that they hope could stave off deep cuts to Ft. Campbell.
(Photo:
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE/STEPHANIE INGERSOLL
)

That's the message city, county and state leaders are hoping will get thousands of locals to write or simply sign letters online before Aug. 25 in hopes of staving off major personnel cuts at Ft. Campbell.

A report, issued by the U.S. Army Environmental Command, earlier this summer, projected the loss of nearly half of Fort Campbell's active duty military and civilian worker populations if sequester cuts to defense are reinstated in 2016. The figures were double the projected loss from an earlier report.

In the Army's "worst-case" scenario, the force would fall from a 2012 level of 562,000 to 420,000 by 2020 and that would likely mean huge cuts at Ft. Campbell.

Leaders from Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee and Kentucky are calling on cavalries of their own to try to stop that from happening.

Letter campaign

The easiest way to help is to write letters in support of the base or simply sign a pre-written letter that will be sent to all the essential decision makers with the click of a button.

Pre-written letters are available at cityofclarksville.com or on Montgomery County's website at mcgtn.org.

"We're trying to make it easy on the public to show their support," McMillan said. "You can either get on the website, sign the form letter that's there and click the 'submit' button and it will automatically go to all the important people in Washington, or, if you would rather print the letter off and sign it, you can bring it to the county mayor's office or the city mayor's office and we will collect them and send them in."

Original letters will also be accepted at both offices.

But time is of the essence.

"We urge you — we just can't say enough how important it is to do it immediately so we can show everyone how important we know Ft. Campbell is to all of us and to our country," said Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan.

McMillan was joined by state Rep. Curtis Johnson, state Rep. Joe Pitts, state Rep. John Tidwell and representatives sent by County Mayor Carolyn Bowers, state Sen. Mark Green and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn at the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

The form letter is addressed to U.S. Army Environmental Command and asks that the Dept. of the Army make no further cuts at Ft. Campbell.

"The post is not only one of the most deployed installations in the country, but also strategically positioned in the U.S. to be accessible by rail, water, air or land," the letter says. "This allows our well-trained men and women in uniform to be ready to accommodate a variety of missions within short notice. The city and county have always been a key partner with the Army, working to ensure our community is in tune with the needs of our soldiers."

The letter said the loss of federal dollars to the community would be "devastating" to several private sectors, such as the real estate industry, and would impact the community's economy, schools, job market and municipal services.

'The fight of our lives'

Pitts urged citizens to write letters immediately.

"We are, in the next 14 days, in for the fight of our lives ... we need to make sure we focus on Ft. Campbell," he said. "The importance of Ft. Campbell to our nation's defense, and to our communities, as well as the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Kentucky cannot be overstated. We need every citizen to write a letter."

McMillan said that in addition to urging citizens to write letters, leaders from the city, county and state were drafting a response that will also be sent to key decision makers about Ft. Campbell's importance to Clarksville and the nation as a whole.

"We want to show people that Clarksville and Montgomery County believe in Ft. Campbell, realizes the importance of the men and women that serve there and how important they are, not just to our community but to this entire country," she said.

Tidwell attended the gathering Monday because he wants citizens to understand just how important the issue is.

"I'd like to call for all my constituents to get in the effort," to save Ft. Campbell, "the number one military installation in our country," he said.

Ways to comment

Visit cityof clarksville.com or mcgtn.gov to sign a form letter.

Drop letters off at the office of Kim McMillan or Carolyn Bowers before Aug. 25